City Life
by Irhaboggles
Summary: Neither Elphaba nor Glinda have ever been to the Emerald City before but, boy, what an amazing place it is! What the two like best about this newfound city life, however, is not any of the opulence, glamor or drama, but instead how accepting all of the city goers are. For once, no one is staring or pointing and for once, they are both somewhere where they belong.


Elphaba was not a city girl. Having been born in Munchkinland and then raised in Quadling Country, the opulence and chaos of a city was very foreign to her. Her very first city had been the city where Shiz University was located, but even that was nothing too special since she spent most of her time on campus. So to be here now, standing in the heart of the Emerald City, the largest and grandest city in all of Oz, was a little intimidating and incredibly exhilarating. It was overwhelming in a good way and the green girl could only stare, slack-jawed, in every direction, as something new and exciting and wonderful was always there for her to admire and experience.

"All the hustle and bustle! It's all so Ozmopolitan!" beside her, Glinda was unwittingly voicing Elphaba's thoughts out loud, looking just as star- and wonderstruck as the green girl to be here, in the Emerald City, of all places. She even gave a giddy giggle, unable to control her ecstasy about being _here _in the big city, in the literal heart of all of Oz itself!

Although Glinda had come from a very different background than Elphaba, she was no more a city girl than the green girl. Instead, she, too, had been raised in a more rural area of Oz. Coming from Gillikin, although the northern quadrant of Oz was known for its high level of industrialization, Glinda herself had been raised in one of the more townie areas away from the big cities like Frottica, Traum and Tenniken. Glinda had not been raised on a farm or marsh the way Elphaba had, but she hadn't been raised in a city either. She had been raised somewhere in between, in a small town in Pertha Hills. To be here now, then, in the Emerald City, was just as exciting and new to her as it was to the green girl with her. She had never been here before, having spent her entire life in her small hometown. What a thrill it was to finally see the legendary city in person!

"I want to remember this moment, always," Elphaba murmured as she and Glinda finally paused in their exploration around the city, simply standing at a busy street corner and marveling at everything in their line of sight in all directions. "Nobody's pointing, nobody's staring, for the first time, I'm somewhere that I belong..." she murmured. Lost in a sea of people, other Ozians flooding all around her, Elphaba had never felt more safe, accepted or at home. Like she had said, this was the first place where she had ever been treated as normal and part of the in-group. Usually, wherever she went, harsh and wary stares followed her around. What Ozian couldn't help but recoil when they saw her green skin? But here in the Emerald City, not a single soul gave her a second look, and to her, that was the most wonderful part of all!

"Well, I have always been told that city life is far more open-minded and accepting than anywhere else in all of Oz," Glinda remarked as she watched several Animals and Ozians walk on by, laughing and chatting loudly.

"Whoever said that was absolutely right," Elphaba still sounded absolutely enchanted as a group of small kids skirted around her, not a single one of them stopping to gawk up at her or cry out in fright because of her ugly verdigris. In the distance, the duo could see a flock of older women gossiping and giggling and bobbing their feathered heads, looking like a cluster of hens. For once, Elphaba found the scene quite attractive, for she was drawn to these people who were just as eccentric as she was (though perhaps in a different way). She felt very much at home around all of these funny and weird-looking people and she adored how calm and accepting they all were of her green skin.

But as the pair would soon come to learn, part of the reason city life was so relaxed was because city life was practically a melting pot for diversity. Every type of lifeform that one could think of, from any walk of life, could come and go freely around the city. As such, it wasn't too hard to see some very odd things running around the emerald streets and after enough of it, it became entirely natural to see something crazy going on. Elphaba was finally able to realize that in this world, in city life, her green skin was far from the strangest thing that the city had ever seen. She was only the tip of the iceberg here, and what a wonderful change of pace that was for her!

"Oh! Elphie! We'll be late for Wizomania!" Glinda cried suddenly, grabbing Elphaba's hand and dragging her along. The pair was quick to join the Ozian throng, melting into the crowd and following the sea of people downstream towards the subway system. Elphaba followed after Glinda enthusiastically, practically skipping along after the hyper little blond as they ran towards the subway. Once they arrived, however, the two met one of their first obstacles. It was here where their newness to the city shown through.

"Oh! Oz!" Glinda muttered as she tried to understand the machine handing out metro cards. After a few tries, she managed to access her family's bank account and purchase two cards for the day. Once the machine spit them out, Glinda hurriedly squeezed in line behind a few sharply-dressed businessmen. She watched them swipe their cards to activate the turnstiles and once it was her turn, she did the same thing. Glinda shoved her way through the gate, part of her skirt getting caught on the rotating metal bar behind her, but she was so focused on trying to find her subway cart that she didn't even notice, tugging her skirt along after her once she crossed the turnstile.

Elphaba's transition wasn't half as smooth.

"Shoot! Oz! Glinda! Wait!" Elphaba cried. She swiped her card but the turnstile wouldn't seem to accept it and the bars of the turnstile were unyielding. She tried to swipe it a few more times, but still the machine rejected her.

"Sweet Oz, Elphie!" Glinda sighed in exasperation and amusement, but she trotted obediently back over to her flustered green friend before reaching an arm over the turnstile to swipe her own card again. The buzzer went off and Elphaba was finally allowed to pass through.

"Whew!" the green girl gasped as she shoved her way over to Glinda, embarrassed at the long line of busy Ozians waiting behind her. The poor green girl also nearly lost her hat as she tore her way through the turnstile and it was only through sheer dumb luck that Glinda managed to catch it before it hit the ground. That would've been bad, because it definitely would've gotten swept up in the tide of fast-moving Ozians.

"Thanks!" Elphaba muttered as Glinda helped place it firmly back onto her head.

"Don't mention it," came the reply. "Now come on! We've got a subway to catch!"

The next obstacle then came in trying to find their subway cart. The maps were confusing and there were so many different tracks that neither Elphaba nor Glinda were ever entirely certain if they were where they were supposed to be.

"It says we want the E train, but where is it!?" Glinda huffed as she squinted her eyes in attempt to read the miniscule map on the kiosk before her.

"Well I don't even think we're on the right track!" Elphaba fretted a moment later.

"We what?!" Glinda whipped her head around. Elphaba wordlessly pointed over their heads. The track was labeled "Downtown" and they were supposed to be going "Uptown". So they were on the wrong side of the tracks, literally.

"Wonderful..." Glinda muttered. But she was able to find a way to reach the Uptown track without having to resurface from the subway. On the far end of one of the tracks was a staircase that led them to an upper level of the system where they could crossover to the Uptown tracks. But even after they managed to find the crossover point to the Uptown tracks, it still took them a few minutes to find the next staircase that would take them back down to the loading docks. It was a little embarrassing, to say the least. But the signs were confusing and there were people _everywhere_!

"Oh! I think that's us!" Elphaba pointed to another sign. It read "E, Uptown" and a train was already in place.

"Sweet Oz!" Glinda repeated in a panic. "Run! Elphie! Run!" and then the two of them were off in a mad dash, desperately trying to reach their subway before it took off without them. After sprinting their feet off and almost crashing into at least 17 different people, the pair managed to reach the subway. Elphaba jumped in first while Glinda nearly got caught in the doors.

"Hey! Wait!" she squeaked as the doors slid shut. Elphaba was quick to whip around and force them back open, yanking Glinda safely inside.

"Whew!" Glinda collapsed into the nearest subway seat, shaking and panting.

"Double whew!" Elphaba agreed, mirroring Glinda's movements.

"I'm guessing you two are new to the city?" another passenger asked them with a dry smirk.

"Yeah," Glinda answered sheepishly.

"S'ok," came the reply. "We all been there before," and with no further remarks, the passenger left them alone again.

"Thank Oz no one seems to care too much!" Glinda whispered, still panting a little.

"Yeah, I'm just glad we managed to catch the train before it rolled out!" Elphaba agreed, hand over her heart. As fun, brilliant, captivating and thrilling as city life was, it could also be very confusing and chaotic, and even a little bit scary and frustrating at times.

But on that ride over to the theater, Elphaba was again reminded of why this was the place where she was sure she belonged. If the city itself hadn't been full of the odd and eccentric, the subway definitely more than covered it. If anything, the subway was even stranger! It was like the entire city condensed into one train cart. Elphaba and Glinda had six stops before they needed to get off and in those six stops until their destination, they saw all of the weirdness that the city had to offer. One man was actually asleep, curled up _underneath _the subway seats. One girl was in pajamas and there was someone who looked like a Shiz student, carrying a tuba with him. There were also a couple of drag queens and a host of people carrying a mountain's worth of shopping bags. There were people in costumes as well, and after the tuba student got off the train, only one stop later, another musician entered in. This girl had a violin with her.

At one point, then, a performer boarded the train.

"Hey, y'all! Just wanted to show you my routine! Been working on it for a few weeks and I'd much appreciate some of your time to watch it!" he said, clapping his hands. Then he pulled out a small speaker and began to blast music from it before breakdancing... on the subway... while it was whizzing along. And not only that, but at one point, he took off his hat and began to dance around with it, performing all sorts of tricks with it, like bouncing it off of his elbows, knees and head and twirling it on his finger, and all while he was still breakdancing. He never missed a single step or beat, even when the train slowed to a halt again.

As soon as the doors opened, however, he bowed to his audience (half of whom hadn't paid any attention at all) and backed out of the car.

"Wow," Glinda blinked. "That was... odd."

"Impressive," Elphaba said at the same time. She, unlike the others on the subway, had paid rapt attention to the dancer. It really was very foreign to her to see things like this. But that was her "country girl" shining through. But that performer was not the last one of the day. Someone else had come in to sing and someone after her walked along the length of the train asking for charity. Elphaba was quick to hand over some money and she cajoled Glinda into doing the same. The beggar gave them both a humble smile and bow as they each stuck a few bills into his extended hat. It really was like seeing all of the city life condensed. Beggars, performers, people in crazy costumes, people sleeping, people carrying around the oddest of items. And once again, another rush of bliss and peace washed over Elphaba.

Then even after the ride was over and Elphaba and Glinda were able to leave their subway train, they saw even more oddities and marvels. To one side, there was a large cluster of youth all shouting about something and to the other was a band performing with fancy equipment and everything! The band consisted of a singer, drummer and guitarist and they were performing covers of popular songs, asking for one dollar in exchange for a song request. Glinda had wanted to request something, but since she and Elphaba already knew they were likely to get lost at least five more times before reaching their theater destination, they decided it was best to skip the performance for now.

"If they're still here after Wizomania is done, we can visit them!" Elphaba said as she dragged Glinda along. "I don't want to miss the show we actually paid good money to see!" the Wizomania tickets had not been cheap.

Just like Elphaba had predicted, the duo managed to get lost several times (first going the wrong way, then accidentally going too far, then straying onto the wrong street and then managing to somehow miss their destination entirely) but they did manage to get into the theater right before the show started, trying not to step on too many toes as they crawled into their seats.

"We made it!" Glinda breathed again in relief, still holding tightly to Elphaba's hand. Before Elphaba could reply, the houselights dimmed and the musical began. What a wonderful show it was!

Once the curtains had closed, Elphaba and Glinda headed back down to the subway, finding it a bit easier the second time around. Sure enough, the band was still taking requests.

"You aren't sick of music yet?" Elphaba teased as Glinda shoved her Wizomania playbill into Elphaba's hand, opening up her wallet.

"I didn't get to request anything while we watched the Wizomania!" Glinda reminded her friend playfully as she stepped over to the lead singer. As soon as he finished his song, he extended a hand to her.

"A penny for a tale?" he asked. She nodded back and gave him her dollar and her song-request. His eyes brightened as she whispered the request to him and Elphaba's did the same moments later when the guitarist began to play the opening bars to the tune.

"I can't believe you chose _this _song!" Elphaba pretended to disdain her friend's musical choice, but she failed to hide that sparkle of amusement in her rich brown eyes. Glinda, meanwhile, only gave her an adorable little smile before extending a hand to the green girl.

"May I have this dance?" she asked and even though Elphaba rolled her eyes again at the little blond, she did not hesitate to pull Glinda into her arms, the two of them swaying and waltzing back and forth in front of the singer.

"One short day in the Emerald City, one short day full of so much to do..." and all around them, other subway riders passed, some of them pushing through to get to their destinations while others stopped to sing and dance along with Elphaba, Glinda and the performers behind them. "One short day in the Emerald City, one short day, but we're seeing it all!" as the drums and guitar picked up, so did the speed of the other dancers, Glinda and Elphaba whirling and twirling right in the very center, delirious with laughter and joy.

"I must say, I'm so happy you're with me! The hand that I'm squeezing is part of the reason I'm having a ball!"

"And then just like now we can say," Glinda and Elphaba sang in unison as the song came to a close. "We're just two friends..."

"Two good friends?" Elphaba gave Glinda a hopeful, adorable little grin as she met the girl's brilliant blue eyes, their hands still intertwined.

"Two _girl_friends," came Glinda's reply, eyes full of promise as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss Elphaba full on the lips. Around them, the watchers clapped and cheered. Elphaba and Glinda were lost in a haze of bliss, surrounded by the love of one another and of the supportive throng dancing along with them. Never before had either of them received so warm a reception in response to their affections for one another. If the two hadn't been convinced before that city life was where they belonged, hearing people clap and cheer for their kiss solidified it now.

And some time during their first little kiss, over the cheering, Glinda heard someone shouting specifically at her, but for once, it was not to demand why she had chosen a woman (and a poor one at that) over some rich and handsome fellow. Instead, they were shouting a joke to her.

"You're one short gay in the Emerald City!" and Glinda laughed against Elphaba's lips, silently agreeing as she pulled Elphaba in even closer and tighter. Behind them, the guitarist of the street band started to jokingly play "Here Comes the Bride", sending another wave of laughter through the crowd. It was a wonderful one short day indeed! City life was definitely the life for them! And Glinda promised to herself and Elphaba at that very moment that they would indeed return here someday together for a more permanent residence. That wonderful one short day would melt into a wonderful lifetime together, Glinda was sure of it!

**AN: I was on a weeklong vacation in NYC a few days ago (celebrating World Pride and Stonewall's 50****th**** anniversary) and man did I have a "One Short Day (Week)" vibe during the entire thing! (Some of the stuff in this fic was inspired off of things I really did see in the NYC subway system). **

**But what really inspired me to write this fic was a mix of my own habit of getting terribly lost and getting to actually see Wicked on Broadway (I still have my tickets and playbill and a "Friend of Elphaba" Pride shirt!)**

**Also, there's a YouTube video titled "****Wicked Workshop- Train Scene/One Short Day" and as the title entails, it's an early version of "One Short Day" as sung by Idina and Kristin and apparently, the lines ****"I must say, I'm so happy you're with me! The hand that I'm squeezing is part of the reason I'm having a ball!" were in the original draft (later replaced by "****And we're warning the city, now that we're in here, you'll know we've been here before we are done!") and let me just say that I will never forgive the songwriters for changing the lyrics and removing a perfectly good Gelphie line. As far as I'm concerned, the scrapped line is canon and it is all I will sing from now on. Because I'm a stubborn gay and I'm Gelphie trash. It be like that sometimes. **


End file.
